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Nora May French
Nora May French (1881 - November 13, 1907) was an American poet. Life Youth and education French was born in 1881 in Aurora, New York to Edward French, a professor at Wells College, and Mary (Wells) French, the sister of the founder of Wells Fargo Henry Wells. When she was seven years old, her wealthy family moved to a ranch outside of Los Angeles, but within a few years they lost that property as a result of a devastating house fire and a failed fruit crop. Her writing career began in her teens, when she was published in local newspapers and magazines. In her early 20s she became engaged, off and on again, to Alan Hiley, a prosperous timber farmer. Her ambivalence about conventional marriage poured into The Spanish Girl, her best known lyrics, a 22-poem chronicle of doomed love. After their final break-up, French joined the Charles Lummis Arroyo Seco, a group of Los Angeles writers and poets who encouraged her to publish in Lummis' Out West magazine. Although her work won praise, notably from the feminist and environmentalist poet Mary Austin, recognition did not translate to financial security. French became involved with Henry Anderson Lafler, an assistant editor on The Argonaut, and moved to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. She quickly made her place within bohemian intellectual circles and endured several unhappy affairs. In 1907 she joined George Sterling and his wife at their home in Carmel, but was unable to overcome her problems. French grew more depressed and on Monday November 11, tried to kill herself unsuccessfully with a gunshot to the head. The bullet took off a lock of her hair, but Nora missed her mark due to her shaky hand. Two days later, during the night of November 13-14, Nora ended her life in Sterling's home (he was absent in San Francisco"Poet Kills Himself", Washington Post, 15 Nov 1907, p. 3.) by ingesting cyanide while Mrs. Sterling slept beside her."Girl Writer Tires of Life", Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov 16th, 1907, pg 1. Nora was just 26 years old. Writing Although many of her poems celebrate the serenity of coastal landscape, others are less sanguine: they offer glimpses into the mind of a young woman torn between pressure to submit to social roles and longing to live creatively.Williams, Michael. "A Book of Beauty." The New Age: A Weekly Review Of Politics, Literature And Art. VII.2 (July 14, 1910). “All sensible people will ultimately be damned,” she said, but lack of stability also plagued her. Recognition 3 of her friends posthumously published French’s Poems in 1910, the only compilation of her work ever widely distributed. Publications *''Poems. San Francisco: Strange, 1910. *''Her Poems (with introduction by Mary Rudge). Oakland, CA: Star Rover House, 1986. *''The Outer Gate: Collected poems'' (edited by Donald Sidney-Fryer & Alan Gullette). New York: Hippocampus, 2009. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"The Outer Gate" *Nora May French at Poets' Corner * Poems by Nora May French ;Audio / video * 2 short radio episodes of Nora May French's Poems from California Legacy Project ;Books *Nora May French at Amazon.com ;About *Nora May French (1881-1907) at Poets' Corner. *Nora May French Official website Category:1881 births Category:1907 deaths Category:American poets Category:People from Erie County, New York Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:Poets who committed suicide